Rhyme in Time:Kreayshawn and Azealia Banks Vie for the Title of Rap’s Next Big Thing

Cultural Adventures for 2012: Vogue_’s look at where theater, music, film, art, and more will take you in 2012._

2011 certainly saw its share of flamboyant pop divas. Lady Gaga continued to reign over the cultural (and sartorial) zeitgeist, followed in hot-pink pursuit by Katy Perry,Rihannaand newcomer, Jessie J. But when it came to ornate chart-toppers, none had the bravado of Nicki Minaj. The pint-size raptress went from underground sensation to mainstream phenomenon this year, thanks to the success of her debut album, Pink Friday, and a bevy of high-profile collaborations. Her knack for balancing a tongue-in-cheek, bubblegum aesthetic with a glossary of NSFW rhymes set the tone for a new rap archetype—with two similarly flamboyant, up-and-coming female MCs touted as the next music acts to watch in 2012.

First, there is Kreayshawn (aka Natassia Zolot), a 22-year-old from Oakland with a penchant for Clarissa Explains It All crop-tops and Day-Glo–hued Disney accessories. Her self-produced video “Gucci Gucci” has not only garnered more than 28 million views on YouTube since it was uploaded in May, but also won her a contract with Columbia Records and a nomination for Best New Artist at the MTV Video Music Awards this year.

Hot on her heels is the provocative Azealia Banks, a Harlem-born 20-year-old who, like Nicki Minaj, is an alumnus of the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music and Performing Arts in New York. Banks’s recently released single, “212” (which could be construed as a sly jab at Kreayshawn and her alleged Valley Girl brogue), won universal praise from the blogosphere when it arrived online in September. And though replete with ripe language, the three-and-a-half-minute track is chock-full of tongue-twisting rhymes and a variety of unavoidably dance-friendly hooks.

Whether either of these rappers winds up achieving the same front-row-fashion-week notoriety as Ms. Minaj remains to be seen, but one thing is for certain: If there is a 90s-era-style East Coast vs. West Coast brouhaha brewing between Banks and Zolot, their wardrobes are certainly decade-appropriate.